all she held dear had vanished in the void. On the landing a sob escaped
her; she turned and twice ejaculated:

"Oh, but you've done us infinite harm! You've done us infinite harm!"

That was all. In her stupefaction Nana had sat down; she still wore her
gloves and her hat. The house once more lapsed into heavy silence; the
carriage had driven away, and she sat motionless, not knowing what to do
next, her head swimming after all she had gone through. A quarter of an
hour later Count Muffat found her thus, but at sight of him she relieved
her feelings in an overflowing current of talk. She told him all about
the sad incident, repeated the same details twenty times over, picked
up the bloodstained scissors in order to imitate Zizi's gesture when he
stabbed himself. And above all she nursed the idea of proving her own
innocence.

"Look you here, dearie, is it my fault? If you were the judge would you
condemn me? I certainly didn't tell Philippe to meddle with the till
any more than I urged that wretched boy to kill himself. I've been most
unfortunate throughout it all. They come and do stupid things in my
place; they make me miserable; they treat me like a hussy."

And she burst into tears. A fit of nervous expansiveness rendered her
soft and doleful, and her immense distress melted her utterly.

"And you, too, look as if you weren't satisfied. Now do just ask Zoe if
I'm at all mixed up in it. Zoe, do speak: explain to Monsieur--"

The lady's maid, having brought a towel and a basin of water out of
the dressing room, had for some moments past been rubbing the carpet in
order to remove the bloodstains before they dried.

"Oh, monsieur," she declared, "Madame is utterly miserable!"

Muffat was still stupefied; the tragedy had frozen him, and his
imagination was full of the mother weeping for her sons. He knew her
greatness of heart and pictured her in her widow's weeds, withering
solitarily away at Les Fondettes. But Nana grew ever more despondent,
for now the memory of Zizi lying stretched on the floor, with a red hole
in his shirt, almost drove her senseless.

"He used to be such a darling, so sweet and caressing. Oh, you know, my
pet--I'm sorry if it vexes you--I loved that baby! I can't help saying
so; the words must out. Besides, now it ought not to hurt you at all.
He's gone. You've got what you wanted; you're quite certain never to
surprise us again."

And this last reflection tortured her with such regret